It is mid-April and after a difficult and disappointing season marred by injuries throughout the lineup, the Edmonton Oilers are looking at a top end draft pick and facing some significant roster changes under their new General Manager. Is it 2010 or 2016?

On the evening of December 24th, 1914, something redeeming happened along the Western Front in France and Belgium. Something sane, kind, good and human took over from the cruel madness that was emerging from the first few months of the Great War. On that night, rifles were put down and soldiers on opposite sides of…

An Offer I Couldn’t Refuse I recently had a chance to talk a little about the Nations with a friend who is also a regular reader. I don’t usually get face time with readers so I took the opportunity to ask him if there were any topics he’d like to see covered that otherwise get…

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly The characters of Tuco and Angel Eyes (the Ugly and Bad) were originally meant to be played by Gian Maria Volonte and Charles Bronson, respectively. However, Sergio Leone eventually picked the wonderful Eli Wallach and inimitable Lee Van Cleef. Eastwood had to be convinced to take the role and exacted a…

Keeping the Dream Rivalry Alive The Abbotsford Heat sit atop their AHL conference while the Barons are struggling to stay in the playoff picture In Calgary this is greeted with great joy, dancing in the streets, and various acts of nefarious merriment with barnyard animals*. In Edmonton, well, that isn’t really our thing. *This may…

To many outsiders the Oilers were foolish to pass on Adam Larsson in 2011, and foolish again to pass on Ryan Murray in 2012. Fans and observers in other NHL cities were taking it as a given that the Oilers would try to balance out their developing core by adding blueliners at the top of…

Three is usually considered a magic number. In fairy tales you get three wishes, tasks often involve three challenges, in baseball you get three strikes, and for the Edmonton Oilers it would appear that three is going to be something of a theme. Yakupov hasn’t joined the team yet, and neither has Justin Schultz. But…

I know, it’s American Thanksgiving, so this may seem a little off-kilter, but I was busy during Canadian Thanksgiving, slaughtering pumpkins by the thousands and engaging in our traditional ritual of animal sacrifice. So you’ll excuse me if this is a little late. So here we are in November, the NHL and the PA are…